We are going to invite you to turn this round by asking you to let yourself be approached by God and begin to know yourself and what you are beckoned towards through God's eyes. We are going to present three short spiritual exercises and invite you simply to use them in your own time and at your own pace.
Their purpose is to let God breathe ever more deeply in your life that you may be drawn with courage and humility to respond to the will of God and act with faithful integrity in your working life.
Sometimes, perhaps a lot of the time, we find it difficult to be still in our lives to let God be and speak within our hearts. We are forever busy with one thing and then another, chasing our tail, never resting. Psalm 46 tells us, "Be still and know that I am God". Stillness is important so that we can become more aware and sensitive to the promptings of God within us, so that God may be the God of mercy and compassion to us and through us.
These spiritual exercises are offered to you as a way of letting God help you hold and shape your soul, your being, your perceptions, how and what you see and feel, your responses and your relationships.
Try to be still - just for two or three minutes to start with. Just sit, or lie down, and don't think. Listen to the sounds around you, or smell the smells, or watch the light and the shadows. If you want gaze at something that catches your attention, let it speak to you, don't analyse it. See its colours, its shape, its design, its pattern. This poem by Edward Thomas gives an idea of what contemplation in stillness is:
Yes, I remember Adlestrop - The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up here Unwontedly. It was late June. The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop - only the name And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky. And for that minute a blackbird sang Close by, and round him, mistier, Farther and farther, all the birds Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire
When you feel relaxed in your own contemplation say and surrender to a short prayer, for example:
God of life, You have a dream, A dream which is in all things and for all things Be with me now In the stillness of my soul
Take a little time and bring to mind the world and everything that is in it, and going on in it. Try to get a picture or impression of it all as best you can. In light of your faith in the gospel of Christ now ask yourself:
What is it in life and in this world:
Try to sum up your reflections in a short prayer, write it in your journal if you want.
Think back over this past few weeks or months of your working life.
Think of where you have been, who you have talked with, what you have done. Think about what you felt, the moods and emotions you experienced.
Focus your attention firstly on those moments big or small, that you enjoyed, cherished, appreciated, which gave you a sense of delight or wonder, moments that pleased you. Think of what's given you a sense being alive and stirred hope in you. Do this in a contemplative way. Just gaze on the moments, don't try to analyse them or pick them apart.
When you've done this just take a little time to remember and savour how you felt and thank God in prayer for the reality in your life of love and of the love of God.
Now try to focus your attention on those moments that have grieved, upset or frightened you. On the times when you have felt a sense of despair, anger, frustration, hopelessness or a sense of worthlessness and failure. What is it about these experiences that has brought on these feelings and emotions?
Ask yourself "For whose sake and whose Kingdom do I feel so strongly?" Is it for God's Kingdom of peace, compassion, justice and love? Or is it for mine of status, reputation, security, prestige?
Whatever your answer bring to mind again the love of God that holds and upholds you at this very moment, Rest in God who dreams a dream for you, and aches for your fulfilment. Open your heart, in repentance if you need, to the heart of God. In peace and stillness be at home and rest there, trusting in God's mercy and forgiveness.
To close, say this prayer and surrender to it with all your heart and soul:
God direct me to do what is right to love justly and to walk humbly with you through these coming days.
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